


All Not Forgotten

by idrilhadhafang



Series: The Broken Edge AUs [6]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, DarkPilot, M/M, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens AU, Role Reversal, Ten Facts, fallen jedi poe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 23:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10775007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In another universe, Poe Dameron himself could have become a Knight of Ren. These are just snippets of that universe.





	All Not Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Role Reversal
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

1\. Poe Dameron's earliest memory is of the Voice. The Voice that isn't quite scary or anything like that, but comforting, kind, even playful. The Voice that teaches him new things and Force tricks. The Voice that's almost like a guide for him.   
  
(He doesn't meet the identity of the Voice until he's eight, and he doesn't realize the identity of the Voice until he's an adult. Up until adulthood, he starts thinking of the Voice as his imaginary friend he made up when he was just two years old; he doesn't even consider the idea that it could be real)   
  
2\. Ben Solo is his best friend. Mrs. Solo doesn't quite trust him; she has the same abilities that Poe has, he just knows it, and she can sense something about the Voice that she somehow doesn't like, but Ben seems to like him well enough. He has the same abilities that Poe has, which Poe thinks is just awesome, and they spend time practicing their abilities together when they're not playing X-wing Pilots. Sometimes they pretend that they're fighting Sith, protecting the galaxy from bad guys that dare threaten it.   
  
3\. When Ben's four and Poe's seven, they're sent away to the Jedi Order. Poe's miserable away from his family, comforted mostly by the fact that Ben's with him. Still, Poe can't say he likes the Jedi Order. There's something about them that's too stiff, too demanding at times, and beings like Master Naris make fun of Ben for being soft-voiced and Poe for standing up for him. At least Master Yana and Master Mei are nice. Poe likes them.   
  
4\. When Poe's eight, Mama dies. What's already an upsetting, confusing event is made worse thanks to the conflicting bits of information that Poe gets. Does he mourn Mama? Does he not? The Jedi don't seem to actually have come to a conclusion about it. Some say mourn, some say don't. The only one who makes sense is Ben, who reassures him that Mama's in the Force, and will always be with him. Poe can only hope.   
  
5\. As Poe gets older, he gets more interested in the matter of making the galaxy better, and so does Ben. The ordeal on the _Black Supernova_ opens up Poe's eyes to the fact that things aren't as right as they should be, and he'll do anything to make things better. That makes the perfect hook for Yana. The more he speaks, the more sense he makes, and Poe starts to listen.   
  
6\. When Poe is eighteen, he becomes Taral Ren. It's strange, severing your own Padawan braid with your lightsaber and handing it to your Supreme Leader long after the massacre at the Temple (he spared Ben. He couldn't bear to kill him. Or Mike or Annie. The group of them managed to escape. Jaina he has no idea where she is), but just about everything about today feels unreal. Even telling himself again and again that he did the right thing, all in the name of saving the galaxy, is hardly a comfort. Sitting alone, Taral Ren wonders if he did the right thing.   
  
7\. When he meets Ben again, it's on Jakku, where Ben's looking everywhere for him. Even as the storm troopers throw Ben to his knees, Taral can't help but be impressed. Ben has...grown. He's gotten more beautiful since he had to leave Ben behind. Only twenty-one and so beautiful, with his dark, curly hair and eyes that look up at Taral's in defiance. Taral kneels in front of him, and Ben's eyes are already silently pleading: _Come home, Poe. Come home to me._  
  
Taral wants to. Stars, he wants to. And yet he can't. He's too tainted to come home. After all he's done, home...home simply isn't an option.   
  
8\. He has to have Ben for his own. Ben, that beautiful, powerful spitfire that he is, who's set a sort of heat in Taral that he can't stop. Even looking at Ben in the interrogation chair, Taral can't stop thinking about him on a featherbed. He deserves better somehow than the interrogation chair, he truly does. He can picture giving Ben the clothes of a prince as he deserves instead of the ragged Jedi robes he wears now. He's not even here to get information from Ben as much as simply to have him for his own.   
  
He unmasks for Ben, and he can feel Ben's longing for him, his conflict, brewing in the Force.   
  
_Don't be afraid, Ben. It's not that scary, the Darkness. It's far safer than the Light._  
  
9\. Ben's kept not in an interrogation chamber, but in Taral's room. It's nothing particularly special, but he hopes Ben will find it comfortable there. All the while, Taral tries to win him over, talking about what the First Order wants to do, what it's accomplished, and Ben is resistant to all of these, wanting him to come back home.   
  
"I am home, my Ben." Taral looks into Ben's eyes, those eyes that when he was younger, left him enchanted.   
  
"You're not. He hurts you."   
  
And Ben isn't lying, unfortunately. "Ben, it's too late to come home."   
  
"It isn't. Come away with me. You don't have to go back to the Resistance. Just...come away with me."   
  
The idea is too wonderful. And yet, how can he?   
  
How does he know he's not damned?   
  
10\. He doesn't come home. But he knows that he always is going to love Ben Solo, no matter what it takes. Ben, this wonderful creature that, he supposes, he's loved all along.   
  
Ben's escaped. But Taral knows that it isn't the end. He will find Ben. And he'll show off the galaxy to him, all as it was meant to be.


End file.
